Research Paper Sample: Online Learning During COVID-19

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 caused the world to do a complete re-evaluation of the way it works. Along with everyone else the education facilities of the world had to re-evaluate how students were going to learn while also staying safe and healthy. The solution seemed to be in online learning. In the blink of an eye, thousands of students went from learning in a classroom to sitting in front of a laptop learning through a screen. Due to the uncertainty of the times, the decision to switch to online learning was made abruptly and both the students and teachers had no idea what to expect. What is now known about online learning was not known just a year ago.  In a study done by the Center on Children and Families, they found that “students who enroll in online classes tend to, at the outset, face more challenges than their face-to-face peers:” As of right now “ 1 in 4 college-level students currently take at least one online course.” (Visual Academy) With the increase of online learning in the world as well as the increase of studies regarding online learning, this past year many students and parents of those students have begun to form opinions surrounding online learning. This sudden change in the way education in the world works has caused questions such as How does online learning affect students, teachers, parents, etc? How are students affected by poor mental health or burnout? All of these questions are asked to answer the overall question of What are the real consequences of online learning? 

Though technology is a major aspect of the world we live in today, the internet is still quite a new thing itself, its “birthday” is considered to be in 1983, it is honestly still something still being understood and studied. The concept of online learning being even more modern, it is not a topic that is completely understood yet. “Distance education is defined as a method of teaching where the student and teacher are physically separated. It can utilize a combination of technologies,  including correspondence, audio, video, computer, and the Internet” (Roffe, 2004) (Kentnor 2015). The history of online learning is one that is still being put in place now, therefore, the complete consequences and/or benefits of it are not truly known to the public yet. 

One of the most prominent voices in this issue and the first stakeholder I am presenting is the CDC or Center of Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC functions “as the nation's health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health, safety, and security threats.” The CDC is related to the issue of Online Learning and its effects on mental health as they are the primary source that delivers information to the public regarding public safety in regards to the Covid-19 virus. The CDC values public health and safety.  When looking within the CDC stakeholder there are not many perspectives that can be drawn from it. The CDC really only stands in one perspective that online learning is a necessary implement due to the current times. They believe that online learning must be put in place and really do not look any deeper into online learning. 

The second stakeholder I have is another group highly involved in this discussion and that is university students themselves. These students have been through in-person learning as well as online learning. Therefore, with their experience with both forms of learning this group can relate to online learning. This group is arguing that the effects of online learning throughout the pandemic are not properly addressed among colleges and other places of education. This group advocated for recognition of effects such as mental health, burnout, as well as performance in grades. This group values the mental health of students attending university. Regarding proposals to the solution, this stakeholder has offered the least amount of ideas. In a study performed by individuals at the American University of Madaba, it was found that “Students still prefer classroom classes over online classes due to many problems they face when taking online classes, such as lack of motivation, understanding of the material, decrease in communication levels between the students and their instructors and their feeling of isolation caused by online classes.” (Alawamleh, Al-Twait, Al-Saht)

The third stakeholder I am presenting is the group of mental health professionals is related to this issue as they advocate for the mental health issues created or influenced by both the covid-19 pandemic and online learning. This group is arguing for the seriousness of mental health among students to be recognized as well as arguing for trying to create the best mental health “environment” for students, teachers, and everyone involved in online learning. One of their greatest concerns is “Academic and social development are likely to slip during online learning for many students.” (American Psychological Association) Their argument is similar to the argument of students. This stakeholder values mental well-being along with advocacy of mental health and mental health issues. 

Along with students being highly involved, the stakeholders of Universities themselves are very closely related to the issue as they are the ones that implemented online learning and are in charge of taking care of both online learning and their students. They have recognized the effects of online learning and have put in place proper understanding and rules regarding online learning. They value the safety of the students, the safety of the staff, and finally the safety of the families. This specific stakeholder has offered the most potential proposals to the problem offering services such as counseling, virtual activities, as well as some in-person activities modified to most effectively provide service while still staying safe during the pandemic. 

Finally, the last stakeholder I have to present is The World Health Organization is related to the issue of Online Learning and its effects on mental health as they are another one of the primary sources that deliver information to the public regarding public safety in regards to the Covid-19 virus. They are arguing a similar argument to the CDC that online learning is mandatory to the current times. The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The World Health Organization Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health". They also value the health and safety of the public and work to ensure that they make decisions that benefit the safety of the public. Because of this, the World Health Organization understands the struggle of online learning however they believe that online learning is still something that must be implemented. 

In regards to relating the stakeholders to one another, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as The World Health Organization, are two stakeholders which would agree with each other. Both of these stakeholders hold similar values, those values being public health and safety. Though perhaps more prominent in the discussion are the stakeholders which disagree. Of the stakeholders, those who could come to some disagreements during the discussion would be the students, teachers, and mental health professionals. 

This issue can be divided into two “sections” which can be analyzed by the stasis theory to better help identify where each of these stakeholders agrees and disagrees. The first issue being the Covid-19 pandemic. The second issue is online learning. It can be assumed that stasis might be found at the fact and definition level and certain stakeholders might lose stasis and the value and policy level regarding both Covid-19 and online learning. The reason stasis would be found at the definition and fact level is that people do agree that the covid-19 pandemic is a concern and generally people also define the topics of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as online learning in the same way.  However, stasis would be lost at the policy and value level. Looking first at the policy level, stasis is lost because when looking at policy the questions surrounding education such as what do we do about it? And what different solutions are proposed? Not everyone has an agreed-upon opinion. This is also the case with the Covid-19 pandemic in general as some people don't even believe Covid is real, but instead, it is a hoax put on by the government. Then, looking at it through the value level this can be more directed towards the topic of online learning. Not everyone values safety or education in the same way. Therefore, because there is not a prioritized “primary concern” stasis is lost at this level as well. 

Overall the issue of online learning and its effects on mental health is an issue that is looked at through many perspectives and the true understanding of the issue is one that is not yet fully understood by any. Several arguments are offered towards this public issue and each of these stakeholders demonstrates the importance of the issue. Teachers, students, even professionals are still navigating the ways of online learning. This issue is not one that is black and white there are several viewpoints regarding the pandemic and regarding online learning and when combining both these issues even more possible perspectives can emerge.